This text is part of:
‘And cowardly, and in everything (always) inclined to dread, in anticipation of coming danger (or, always inclined to anticipate danger and evil), their disposition being the reverse of that of the young: for they are cooled down (chilled by age), the others hot’. Hor. A. P. 171, res omnes timide gelideque ministrat, the gelide being manifestly taken from Aristotle. On ἀνελεύθεροι, Gaisford cites Bacon on this topic. The passage which he refers to in the Engl. Vers. occurs in de Augm. Scient. Lib. VII c. 3, Vol. I p. 734, Ellis and Spedding's ed., “Videmus enim Plautum miraculi loco habere, quod senex quis sit beneficus; Benignitas huius ut adolescentuli est” (Mil. Glor. III 1. 40). Bacon has misquoted: the line runs, Nam benignitas quidem huius oppido adulescentulist (Ritschl). Bentley on Hor. A. P. 172 has made use of this characteristic, προφοβητικοί, in support of his emendation pavidus for avidus. Orelli observes on this that it contradicts spe longus which occurs just before. But the two are not absolutely contradictory; a man may look far forward in his hope of a long life, and yet be fearful and anxious about what that future may bring. This physical theory of heating and cooling as applied to human character and passions is illustrated by Probl. XXX 1. 22, ὥστε φοβερόν τι ὅταν εἰσαγγελθῇ, ἐὰν μὲν ψυχροτέρας οὔσης τῆς κράσεως τύχῃ, δειλὸν ποιεῖ: προωδοπεποίηκε γὰρ τῷ φόβῳ, καὶ ὁ φόβος καταψύχει. δηλοῦσι δὲ οἱ περίφοβοι: τρέμουσι γάρ. See the same, §§ 29, 30. Διὸ καὶ οἱ μὲν παῖδες εὐθυμότεροι, οἱ δὲ γέροντες δυσθυμότεροι. οἱ μὲν γὰρ θερμοί, οἱ δὲ ψυχροί: τὸ γὰρ γῆρας κατάψυξίς τις. § 32, ἠθοποιὸν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν μάλιστα τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἐστίν. Victorius refers to de Part. Anim. II 4, 650 b 27, ὁ γὰρ φόβος καταψύχει: προωδοποίηται οὖν τῷ πάθει τὰ τοιαύτην ἔχοντα τὴν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ κρᾶσιν (of the blood). On this physical or physiological account of the πάθη, and their connexion with the condition of the blood and muscles, and their different degrees of heat and cold, see further in the remainder of the same chapter. θερμότητος γὰρ ποιητικὸν ὁ θυμός (passion produces heat as well as heat passion), τὰ δὲ στερεὰ θερμανθέντα μᾶλλον θερμαίνει τῶν ὑγρῶν: αἱ δ᾽ ἶνες (the muscles) στερεὸν καὶ γεῶδες, ὥστε γίνονται οἷον πυρίαι (vapour-baths) ἐν τῷ αἵματι καὶ ζέσιν ποιοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς θυμοῖς. Ib. 650 b 35, πολλῶν δ᾽ ἐστὶν αἰτία ἡ τοῦ αἵματος φύσις καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἦθος τοῖς ζῴοις καὶ κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν, κ.τ.λ. 651 a 12. ‘And therefore old age prepares the way for cowardice (on προοδοποιεῖν, see note on I 1. 2); in fact fear is a kind of cooling down’. Comp. Horace's gelide, A. P. 171, already quoted. “Virg. Aen. I 69, extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra. Servius, frigore, i.e. timore, et est reciproca translatio, nam et timor pro frigore, et frigus pro timore ponitur.” Schrader.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.